^Michael Loccisano / Getty Images Leonard Cohen held them close and raptured at New York's Beacon Theatre on Thursday evening as the legendary Canadian poet, musician and songwriter kicked off the second North American leg of his ...

.Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often deals with the exploration of religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships.^Youve written novels and books of poetry.

^He continued to publish, issuing a pair of novels, -The Favorite Game (1963) and -Beautiful Losers (1966), with a pair of poetry collections, -Flowers for Hitler (1964) and -Parasites of Heaven (1966) around them.

[1].Famously reclusive,[2] having once spent several years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, and possessing a persona frequently associated with mystique,[3][4] he is extremely well-regarded by critics for his literary accomplishments, for the richness of his lyrics, and for producing an output of work of high artistic quality over a five-decade career.^Is that musical work as well as lyrical work?

^The Lyrics Of Leonard Cohen Lyrics only The Lyrics Of Leonard Cohen is a collection of over 100 song lyrics by the legendary songwriter.When his first album made him an unlikely star in the late 1960's, Leonard Cohen was hailed as the new poet of song.

[8] In the 1970s, his material encompassed pop, cabaret and world music. Since the 1980s, his high baritone voice has evolved into lower registers (bass baritone and bass), with accompaniment from a wide variety of instruments and female backup singers.

.Over 2,000 renditions of Cohen's songs have been recorded.^His first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen , was an extraordinary debut for any songwriter and recording artist.

^Joan Baez subsequently recorded the song, and in her hands it was a bit more upbeat and inspiring to the listener; Cohen's rendition made it much more difficult to get past the costs presented by the singer's persona.

.Cohen has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.^Earlier this year, when Cohen was inducted into the US Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, his old friend Lou Reed put it most succinctly: "We're so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is."

While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."[9]

.His father, Nathan Cohen, owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, and died when Leonard was nine years old.^His father, a clothing merchant (who also held a degree in engineering), died in 1943, when Cohen was nine years old.

On the topic of being a Kohen he said that, "I had a very Messianic childhood," he told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest."[11] He attended Herzliah High School, where he studied with poet Irving Layton. .As a teenager he learned to play the guitar, subsequently forming a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys.^His relationship to music was more tentative -- he took up the guitar at age 13, initially as a way to impress a girl, but was good enough to play country & western songs at local cafes, and he subsequently formed a group called the Buckskin Boys.

His father's will provided Leonard with a modest trust income, sufficient to allow him to pursue his literary ambitions.

Poetry

.In 1951, Cohen enrolled at McGill University, where he became president of the McGill Debating Union.^At 17, he enrolled in McGill University as an English major -- by this time, he was writing poetry in earnest and became part of the university's tiny underground "bohemian" community.

.His literary influences during this time included Yeats, Irving Layton, Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca and Henry Miller.^Now that they’re all in the mood, the time is opportune for Take This Waltz, and as always, Lenny makes appropriate obeisance to Federico Garcia Lorca for writing the original lyrics in Spanish.

[12].His first published book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956), was published under Louis Dudek as the first book in the McGill Poetry Series while Cohen was still an undergraduate student.^His first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956, followed by The Spice Box of Earth in 1961.

^But after graduating from McGill in 1956, and publishing a book of poems dedicated to his late father, he found a place on a postgraduate course at Columbia University, in the thriving heart of New York's Manhattan.

.The Spice-Box of Earth (1961) made him well known in poetry circles, especially in his native Canada.^His first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956, followed by The Spice Box of Earth in 1961.

After completing an undergraduate degree, Cohen spent a term in McGill's law school and a year (1956-7) at Columbia University.

Cohen applied a strong work ethic to his early and keen literary ambitions. He wrote poetry and fiction through much of the 1960s, and preferred to live in quasi-reclusive circumstances. .After moving to Hydra, a Greek island, Cohen published the poetry collection Flowers for Hitler (1964), and the novels The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966).^He continued to publish, issuing a pair of novels, -The Favorite Game (1963) and -Beautiful Losers (1966), with a pair of poetry collections, -Flowers for Hitler (1964) and -Parasites of Heaven (1966) around them.

.The Favourite Game is an autobiographical bildungsroman about a young man who discovers his identity through writing.^It often is a young mans game, or as Browning said, "The first fine careless frenzy."

.Cohen's writing process, he told an interviewer in 1998, is "...like a bear stumbling into a beehive or a honey cache: I'm stumbling right into it and getting stuck, and it's delicious and it's horrible and I'm in it and it's not very graceful and it's very awkward and it's very painful and yet there's something inevitable about it."^I knew nothing about Cohen, information was much harder to come by when there was no Internet.

^The interviews were orginally published in SongTalk, the journal of the National Academy of Songwriters, which has since merged with the Songwriters Guild of America Paul Zollo is a singer-songwriter, music journalist and author.

During the 60s, he was a fringe figure in Andy Warhol's Factory crowd. .Warhol speculated that Cohen had spent time listening to Nico in clubs and that this had influenced his musical style.^It was only a matter of time until the words and the music came together and Cohen became a songwriter.

[14].His song "Suzanne" became a hit for Judy Collins and was for many years his most covered song.^There will always be songs that we would love to hear – it’s hard to cover nigh on 50 years in 3 glorious hours.

^The miraculous "Suzanne" for example, is a song towards which many songwriters have aspired, and it is Cohens descriptive use of details, along with one of his most haunting melodies, that distinguishes this astonishing song.

.After performing at a few folk festivals, he came to the attention of Columbia Records representative John H. Hammond.^When John Hammond, the same guy who discovered Dylan, Springsteen, and Billie Holiday, heard some of Leonards early songs, he told him, "Youve got it," and signed him to Columbia records.

.Cohen's first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), was too dark to be a commercial success but was widely acclaimed by folk music buffs.^His first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen , was an extraordinary debut for any songwriter and recording artist.

[citation needed] He became a cult name in the UK, where the album spent over a year on the album charts.[15].He followed it with Songs from a Room (1969) (featuring the often-recorded "Bird on the Wire"), Songs of Love and Hate (1971), Live Songs (1973) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974).^Bird On A Wire was the first Cohen song I ever heard, lying under the coffee table and listening to my mother’s scratchy old Songs From A Room LP. “Like a baby still-born, like a beast with his horn, I have torn everyone who reached out for me.” At 11 or whatever i was, I had never heard anything like that.

In 1971, Cohen's music was used in the soundtrack to Robert Altman's film McCabe & Mrs. Miller. .Cohen had been in Nashville when Altman phoned to ask permission to use some tracks off Songs of Leonard Cohen.^And a number of Cohen's finest songs appeared here, including the luminous "Suzanne," the subtly venomous "Master Song" and "Sisters of Mercy," which would later be used to memorable effect in Robert Altman's film McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

^More products on Songs of Leonard Cohen [Bonus Tracks] » Back to the top External Links Purchase Tickets to Leonard Cohen Events Purchase Leonard Cohen albums on Amazon.com Back to the top Related Searches .

.Coincidentally, earlier that same day, Cohen saw Altman's film, Brewster McCloud in a Nashville theater.^A film title from the 1950’s and the day I finally got to see the legend that is Leonard Cohen.

.He hadn't paid attention to the credits, though; when Altman asked permission to use Cohen's songs in his new film, Cohen asked him who, exactly, he was.^And a number of Cohen's finest songs appeared here, including the luminous "Suzanne," the subtly venomous "Master Song" and "Sisters of Mercy," which would later be used to memorable effect in Robert Altman's film McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

Altman mentioned MASH, but Cohen had never heard of it. Altman then told him of the lesser-known Brewster McCloud. Cohen replied, "Listen, I just came out of the theater. I saw it twice. You can have anything of mine you want!"[16]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cohen toured the United States, Canada and Europe. Beginning around 1974, his collaboration with pianist and arranger John Lissauer created a live sound praised by the critics. .During this time, Cohen toured twice with Jennifer Warnes as a back-up singer (in 1972 and 1979).^Field Commander Cohen - Tour Of 1979 (CD) .

.Warnes would become a fixture on Cohen's future albums and she recorded an album of Cohen songs in 1987, Famous Blue Raincoat.^Cohen played songs from his first two albums, debuted a few -- including "Suzanne," -- recited poems, and told stories.

^With a heavy emphasis on the debut Songs of Leonard Cohen and its follow-up Songs From a Room, the set includes such masterpieces as "Suzanne," "So Long, Marianne" and "Bird on the Wire," as well as later efforts including "Chelsea Hotel" and "Famous Blue Raincoat."

.In 1977, Cohen released Death of a Ladies' Man (note the plural possessive case; one year later, in 1978, Cohen released a volume of poetry with the coyly revised title, Death of a Lady's Man).^[This special 2008 edition adds a bonus disc which includes "Death of a Ladies Man," "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" and five other songs.

.The album was produced by Phil Spector, known as the inventor of the "wall of sound" technique, which backs up pop music with many layers of instrumentation, an approach very different from Cohen's usually minimalist instrumentation.^Usually, yes, the line will have a kind of rhythm that will indicate, at the very least, where the voice will go up and where the voice will go down.

.The recording of the album was fraught with difficulty—Spector reportedly mixed the album in secret studio sessions, and Cohen said Spector once threatened him with a crossbow.^His first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen , was an extraordinary debut for any songwriter and recording artist.

Cohen thought the end result "grotesque,"[18] but also "semi-virtuous."[19]

In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs. Produced by Cohen himself and Henry Lewy (Joni Mitchell's sound engineer) the album included performances by a jazz-fusion band introduced to Cohen by Mitchell and oriental instruments (oud, Gypsy violin and mandolin). .In 2001 Cohen released an album of live recordings of songs from his 1979 tour, entitled Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979.^Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 .

1980s

Leonard Cohen (1988).

.In 1984, Cohen released Various Positions, including "Dance Me to the End of Love" and the often recorded "Hallelujah". Columbia declined to release the album in the United States, where Cohen's popularity had declined in previous years.^In songs such as "Suzanne" and "Sisters of Mercy," Cohen moved beyond the realm of the popular song to reach into places previously untouched with words and music.

^When the girls open with the familiar syncopated lilting start of Dance Me , from his mid-period masterpiece Various Positions, we know this is going to be a journey through Cohen’s huge labyrinth of poetic songmaking.

Throughout his career, Cohen's music has sold better in Europe and Canada than in the U.S. He once satirically expressed how touched he is at the modesty the American company showed in promoting his records.

.In 1986, he appeared in the episode "French Twist" of the TV series Miami Vice. In 1987, Jennifer Warnes's tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat helped restore Cohen's career in the U.S., and the following year he released I'm Your Man, which marked a drastic change in his music.^As he once said to Jennifer Warnes, "Your most particular answer will be your most universal one."

^I met him in a dream sitting in his car waiting for Mrs. Cohen to finish the supermarket shop and as we were both killing time, even felt free to ask him the burning question about Famous Blue Raincoat.

^With a heavy emphasis on the debut Songs of Leonard Cohen and its follow-up Songs From a Room, the set includes such masterpieces as "Suzanne," "So Long, Marianne" and "Bird on the Wire," as well as later efforts including "Chelsea Hotel" and "Famous Blue Raincoat."

Synthesizers ruled the album and Cohen's lyrics included more social commentary and dark humour. .It was Cohen's most acclaimed and popular since Songs of Leonard Cohen. "First We Take Manhattan" and the title song became two of his most popular songs.^Leonard Cohen takes Manhattan, again Canada.com Network .

1990s

.The use of the album track "Everybody Knows" (co-written by Sharon Robinson) in the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume helped expose Cohen's music to a younger audience.^I don’t know what part of my sub consciousness that came from but the dream features in track 8 on my Losers & Sinners album.

The song also featured prominently in fellow countryman Atom Egoyan's 1994 film, Exotica. In 1992, Cohen released The Future, which urges (often in terms of biblical prophecy) perseverance, reformation, and hope in the face of grim prospects. .Three tracks from the album - "Waiting for the Miracle", "The Future" and "Anthem" - were featured in the movie Natural Born Killers.^I don’t know what part of my sub consciousness that came from but the dream features in track 8 on my Losers & Sinners album.

In the title track, Cohen prophesies impending political and social collapse, reportedly as his response to the L.A. unrest of 1992: "I've seen the future, brother: It is murder." In "Democracy", Cohen criticizes America but says he loves it: "I love the country but I can't stand the scene." .Further, he criticizes the American public's lack of interest in politics and addiction to television: "I'm neither left or right/I'm just staying home tonight/getting lost in that hopeless little screen."^Not just TV, but the hopeless, little screen.

In 1994, following a tour to promote The Future, Cohen retreated to the Mt. Baldy Zen Center near Los Angeles, beginning what became five years of seclusion at the center.[17].In 1996, Cohen was ordained as a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and took the Dharma name Jikan, meaning "silence". He served as personal assistant to Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi.^After 1993 Leonard Cohen lived several years at the Zen Center on Mount Baldy (a Buddhist monastery) in California.

He left Mount Baldy in 1999. Japanese songwriter and poet Masato Tomobe stated he admires Cohen and made him more recognized in Japan around this time.

2000s

Ten New Songs

In 2001, following the five years' seclusion at the Mt. .Baldy Zen Center, Cohen returned to music with Ten New Songs, featuring a heavy influence from producer and co-composer Sharon Robinson.^After that, it’s Boogie Street, from Ten New Songs, released when he left the Zen monastery and discovered he’d been ripped off and all his money was gone.

.With this album, Cohen shed the relatively extroverted, engaged, and even optimistic outlook of The Future (the sole political track, "The Land of Plenty", abandoning stern commandment for yearning but helpless prayer) to lament and seek acceptance of varieties of personal loss: the approach of death and the departure of love, romantic and even divine.^A solitary survivor caught by the spell of love and death, Cohen shoots for the moon in his best songs.

.The cohesive musical style of Ten New Songs' (perhaps absent from Cohen's albums since Recent Songs) owes much to Robinson’s involvement.^After that, it’s Boogie Street, from Ten New Songs, released when he left the Zen monastery and discovered he’d been ripped off and all his money was gone.

.March 2010" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] The album includes the song "Alexandra Leaving", a striking transformation of the poem "The God Abandons Antony", by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy.^They leave the heart, they abandon the heart to the Milky Way, that drunkard's glittering line to a physical god ...

Although not Cohen’s bitterest album, it may rank as his most melancholic.

Dear Heather

In October 2004, Cohen released Dear Heather, largely a musical collaboration with jazz chanteuse (and current romantic partner) Anjani Thomas, although Sharon Robinson returns to collaborate on three tracks (including a duet). .As light as the previous album was dark, Dear Heather reflects Cohen's own change of mood - he has said in a number of interviews that his depression has lifted in recent years, which he attributes to the aid of Zen Buddhism.^After 1993 Leonard Cohen lived several years at the Zen Center on Mount Baldy (a Buddhist monastery) in California.

.Dear Heather is perhaps his least cohesive, and most experimental and playful album to date, and the stylings of some of the songs (especially the title track) frustrated many fans.^Cohen played songs from his first two albums, debuted a few -- including "Suzanne," -- recited poems, and told stories.

.In an interview following his induction into the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, Cohen explained that the album was intended to be a kind of notebook or scrapbook of themes, and that a more formal record had been planned for release shortly afterwards, but that this was put on ice by his legal battles with his ex-manager.^His first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen , was an extraordinary debut for any songwriter and recording artist.

Blue Alert

.Blue Alert, an album of songs co-written by Anjani and Cohen, was released on May 23, 2006 to positive reviews.^If Songs of Love and Hate isn't Cohen's best album, it comes close enough to be essential to anyone interested in his work.

.The album is sung by Anjani, who according to one reviewer "...sounds like Cohen reincarnated as woman...though Cohen doesn't sing a note on the album, his voice permeates it like smoke."^I’m one of those people who don’t like Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah , and so I’m a bit disappointed when that’s what he sings, but hey, it’s his song, and he can do whatever he wants with it.

^Johnston also had trouble coaxing strong vocal performances from Cohen; his singing here sounds tentative and his meter is uncertain, which regardless of how one feels about Cohen's much-debated vocal prowess is not the case with his other work.

[20].The album includes a recent musical setting of Cohen's "As the mist leaves no scar", a poem originally published in The Spice-Box of Earth in 1961 and adapted by Spector into "True Love Leaves No Traces" on Death of a Ladies' Man.^His first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956, followed by The Spice Box of Earth in 1961.

Book of Longing

.Cohen's book of poetry and drawings, Book of Longing, was published in May 2006; in March a Toronto-based retailer offered signed copies to the first 1500 orders placed online.^At seventeen he went to McGill University where he formed the Buckskin Boys and wrote his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies .

All 1500 sold within hours. The book quickly topped bestseller lists in Canada. On May 13, 2006, Cohen made his first public appearance for thirteen years, at an in-store event at a bookstore in Toronto. Approximately 3000 people turned up for the event, causing the streets surrounding the bookstore to be closed. .He sang two of his earliest and best-known songs: "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye", accompanied by the Barenaked Ladies and Ron Sexsmith.^[This special 2008 edition adds a bonus disc which includes "Death of a Ladies Man," "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" and five other songs.

.The tour, Cohen's first in 15 years, began May 11 in Fredericton, NB to wide critical acclaim, and was prolonged until spring of 2010.[23] The schedule encompassed Canada and Europe, including performances at The Big Chill (music festival),[24] the Montreal Jazz Festival, and on the Pyramid Stage at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival on 29 June 2008.[25] His performance at Glastonbury was hailed by many as the highlight of the festival[26], and his performance of "Hallelujah" as the sun went down received a rapturous reception and a lengthy ovation from a packed Pyramid Stage field.^Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 .

[27].He also played in Dublin in what has come to be regarded as a "milestone concert."^We flew to Dublin from Glasgow for the concert on the 13th, as we’re on holiday when he plays Edinburgh Castle next month.

The London performance was later released on CD and DVD under the title Live in London.

The Sydney Entertainment Centre show on January 28 sold out rapidly, which motivated promoters to later announce a second show at the venue. .The first performance was well-received, and the audience of 12,000 responded with five standing ovations.^During the nearly three-hour show (with one intermission) he was uniformly gracious, doffing his hat to the audience after each song, and receiving a standing ovation for nearly every o`ne in return.

Cohen gave generous credit to his touring band, his long-time collaborator and vocalist Sharon Robinson, and the "sublime" Webb Sisters.[citation needed] In January 2009, the tour arrived in New Zealand. Simon Sweetman in The Dominion Post (Wellington) of 21 January wrote "It is hard work having to put this concert in to words so I'll just say something I have never said in a review before and will never say again: this was the best show I have ever seen." The first concert of the Australian tour took place at Rochford Winery in Victoria's Yarra Valley on January 24 in perfect weather in front of an audience of about 7,000.

Hallelujah

.On March 7, 2008, Jeff Buckley's version of Cohen's "Hallelujah", went to number 1 on the iTunes chart after Jason Castro performed the song on the seventh season of the television series American Idol.^June 17th, 2008 10:31 am Sorry to be contrary here but Hallelujah wouldn’t make my top twenty Cohen songs and Buckley’s version wouldn’t make my top twenty Cohen covers.

[28].Another major boost for Cohen's song exposure came when singer-songwriter Kate Voegele released her version of "Hallelujah" from her 2007 album Don't Look Away and appeared as a regular character, named Mia, on season five of the teenage television show One Tree Hill.^There are so many great Jewish songwriters, yet its so rare that any of them mention being Jewish in a song -- [Laughs] I smiled to myself when that line came.

A few days later, Cohen was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in recognition of his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."[9]. He was introduced by fellow musician Lou Reed.

In December 2008, two versions of "Hallelujah" placed No. 1 and 2 in the UK Christmas singles chart, with X Factor winner Alexandra Burke at No. 1 and Jeff Buckley at No. 2, following an campaign by Buckley fans to get his version to no. 1 rather than the X Factor version. As a result, online downloads of Cohen's original version placed it at No. 36, 24 years after its initial release. .Not since the early days of the UK Singles Chart had three versions of the same song charted simultaneously.^In the early days, did a song such as "Suzanne" come easy to you?

John Cale performed this song in the 2001 Dreamworks movie Shrek. The cover when watching the actual movie was by John Cale, but the original soundtrack for the movie had a Rufus Wainwright version. John Cale's version was also featured on the television series Scrubs.

Live in London

.On March 21, 2009, Cohen released Live in London, recorded on July 17, 2008 at London's O2 Arena and released on DVD and as a two-CD set.^At the store today, I found Cohen’s Live in London, recorded July 17th 2008.

^Back to the top Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (CD/DVD) Review by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide Released: October 20, 2009 Label: Columbia/Legacy Styles: Singer/Songwriter On August 31, 1970, Leonard Cohen was scheduled to play the third Isle of Wight Festival.

2009 concerts

.On February 19, 2009, Cohen played his first American concert in fifteen years at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.^Maryanne keane July 22nd, 2009 10:45 pm We travelled from Ireland to see him in concert in London on 17 July last year….

[29].He also performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, April 17, 2009, in front of one of the largest Outdoor Theatre crowds in the history of the festival.^Irish KC ] » Kansas City Irish Festivals, Music, Pubs, & Events by an Artist in Ireland » Best Irish Blog Post - The Shortlist February 12th, 2009 9:14 am [...

His performance of Hallelujah was widely regarded as one of the highlights of the festival.

.In February 2009, in response to hearing about the devastation to the Yarra Valley region of Victoria in Australia, he donated $200,000 to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal in support of those affected by the extensive Black Saturday bushfires that razed the area just weeks after his performance at the Rochford Winery in the A Day on the Green concert.^Ruairi February 13th, 2009 9:20 pm Hey – best of luck at the blog awards next week – great post .

A scheduled concert in Ramallah was cancelled after Palestinian human-rights activists objected to the fact that Cohen had also scheduled a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, contrary to a proposed cultural boycott of Israel.[32].Tickets for the Tel Aviv concert, Cohen's first performance in Israel since 1975, went on sale on August 1, 2009, and sold out in less than 24 hours.^I’ve given the staff at the Bockschloss half an hour off to celebrate winning the Post of the Month award for the Lenny Cohen concert review.

[33].It was announced that proceeds from the sale of the 47,000 tickets would go into a charitable fund in partnership with Amnesty International and would be used by Israeli and Palestinian peace groups for projects providing health services to children and bringing together Israeli veterans and former Palestinian fighters and the families of those killed in the conflict.^In the most unlikely circumstance, I was told, on Thursday that there was a possibility of a spare ticket being available for the Friday concert and was asked if I would go.

.January 2010" style="white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] However on August 17, 2009, Amnesty International released a statement saying they were withdrawing from any involvement with the concert or its proceeds.^Maryanne keane July 22nd, 2009 10:45 pm We travelled from Ireland to see him in concert in London on 17 July last year….

.On September 18, at a concert in Valencia, Spain, Cohen collapsed halfway through performing his song "Bird on the Wire".[37] It was reported that Cohen had stomach problems, and possibly food poisoning.^Then, of course, I noticed that birds came to the wires and that was how that song began.

On September 24 at the Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel, Cohen was highly emotional about the Israeli-PalestinianNGO Bereaved Families for Peace. .He mentioned the organization twice, saying "It was a while ago that I first heard of the work of the 'Bereaved Parents for Peace'. That there was this coalition of Palestinian and Israeli families who had lost so much in the conflict and whose depth of suffering had compelled them to reach across the border into the houses of the enemy.^But his own work has extended across generations and decades, packing as much brilliance into 1992s The Future as he instilled into his first album in 1967.

.Into the houses of those, to locate them who had suffered as much as they had, and then to stand with them in aching confraternity, a witness to an understanding that is beyond peace and that is beyond confrontation.^I understand those Roman girls who danced around a shaft of stone and kissed it till the stone was warm.

.So, this is not about forgiving and forgetting, this is not about laying down one's arms in a time of war, this is not even about peace, although, God willing, it could be a beginning.^In other words, its something you do every day and you cant get too far from it, otherwise you forget what its about It wasnt that way for you prior to that time?

This is about a response to human grief. A radical, unique and holy, holy, holy response to human suffering. Baruch Hashem, thank God, I bow my head in respect to the nobility of this enterprise."[39] At the end of the show he blessed the crowd by the Priestly Blessing, a Jewish blessing offered by Kohanim, Cohen being of the Priestly caste.[40]

Altogether, the tour earned a reported $9.5 million, putting Cohen at number 39 on Billboard magazine's list of the year's top musical "money makers."[41]

Themes

Recurring themes in Cohen's work include love and sex, religion, psychological depression, and music itself. He has also engaged with certain political themes, though sometimes ambiguously so. "Suzanne" mixes a wistful type of love song with a religious meditation, themes that are also mixed in "Joan of Arc". "Famous Blue Raincoat" is from the point of view of a man whose marriage has been broken (in exactly what degree is ambiguous in the song) by his wife's infidelity with his close friend, and is written in the form of a letter to that friend, to whom he writes, "I guess that I miss you/ I guess I forgive you … Know your enemy is sleeping/ And his woman is free", while "Everybody Knows" deals in part with social inequality ("...the poor stay poor/ And the rich get rich"), and the harsh reality of AIDS: "… the naked man and woman/ Are just a shining artifact of the past".

"Sisters of Mercy", according to the sleeve notes of his Greatest Hits evokes his encounter with two women named Barbara and Lorraine in a hotel room in Edmonton, Canada. .Claims that "Chelsea Hotel #2" treats his affair with Janis Joplin without sentimentality are countered by claims that the song reveals a much more complicated and mixed set of feelings than straightforward love.^Much more than now.

.Cohen discusses the song in an interview filmed for the tribute-concert movie Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man.^His first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen , was an extraordinary debut for any songwriter and recording artist.

He confirms that the subject is indeed Janis with some evident embarrassment. ."She wouldn't mind", he declares, "but my mother would be appalled". The title of "Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On" speaks for itself.^Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On .

.Cohen comes from a Jewish background, most obviously reflected in his song "Story of Isaac", and also in "Who by Fire", whose words and melody echo the Unetaneh Tokef, an 11th century liturgical poem recited on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.^The miraculous "Suzanne" for example, is a song towards which many songwriters have aspired, and it is Cohens descriptive use of details, along with one of his most haunting melodies, that distinguishes this astonishing song.

.Hallelujah, which has music as a secondary theme, begins by evoking the biblical king David composing a song that "pleased the Lord", and continues with references to Bathsheba and Samson.^And we are lying beneath the thrones Far from the roof, the king, David, begins the ageless psalm which rings through caves and tears the cobwebs from the sleeper's face.

.In his concert in Ramat Gan, Israel, on the 24th of September 2009 Cohen spoke to the audience in Hebrew when using Jewish prayers and blessings.^As we recover, here comes Who By Fire, Cohen’s marvellous adaptation of an ancient Jewish prayer , and he closes on Heart with No Companion.

In his early career as a novelist, Beautiful Losers grappled with the mysticism of the Catholic/IroquoisCatherine Tekakwitha. Cohen has also been involved with Buddhism at least since the 1970s and in 1996 he was ordained a Buddhist monk. However, he still considers himself also a Jew: "I'm not looking for a new religion. I'm quite happy with the old one, with Judaism."[43]

Mr. Cohen is an observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath even while on tour and performed for Israeli troops during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. So how does he square that faith with his continued practice of Zen?

."Allen Ginsberg asked me the same question many years ago," he said.^Many years later, I turned to these songs in times of confusion and found a lot of answers in his writing sometimes to questions I wasn’t even asking.

."Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I've practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity.^One is distracted by this notion that there is such a thing as inspiration, that it comes fast and easy.

.Having suffered from depression during much of his life (although less so with the onset of old age), Cohen has written much (especially in his early work) about depression and suicide.^Much has been written about it.

The wife of the protagonist of Beautiful Losers commits a gory suicide; "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" is about a suicide; the darkly comic "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" mentions suicide; "Dress Rehearsal Rag" is about a last-minute decision not to commit suicide; a general atmosphere of depression pervades such songs as "Please Don't Pass Me By" and "Tonight Will Be Fine". As in the aforementioned "Hallelujah", music itself is the subject of many songs, including "Tower of Song", "A Singer Must Die", and "Jazz Police".

Social justice often shows up as a theme in his work, where he seems, especially in later albums, to expound a leftist politics, albeit with culturally conservative elements. In "Democracy", he laments "the wars against disorder/ … the sirens night and day/ … the fires of the homeless/ … the ashes of the gay. He concludes that the United States is actually not a democracy. .He has made the observation (in Tower of Song) that, "the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor/ And there's a mighty judgment coming."^I dont know where the good songs come from or else Id go there more often.

.In the title track of The Future he recasts this prophecy on a pacifist note: "I've seen the nations rise and fall/ …/ But love's the only engine of survival."^And your second last photo is one of the best shots of a gig I’ve seen, it catches the mood and the falling light brilliantly.

In "Anthem", he promises that "the killers in high places [who] say their prayers out loud/ … [are] gonna hear from me."

.Several Cohen songs speak of abortion, always either as something distasteful or even atrocious.^I have to say I do like Cohen singing Hallelujah, even though the song has been done to death as you say.

.In "The Future", he sings sarcastically "Destroy another fetus now/ We don't like children anyhow."^I’m one of those people who don’t like Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah , and so I’m a bit disappointed when that’s what he sings, but hey, it’s his song, and he can do whatever he wants with it.

In "Stories of the Street" Cohen speaks of "The age of lust is giving birth/ And both the parents ask/ The nurse to tell them fairy tales/ from both sides of the glass."

."Diamonds in the Mine" is often described as a song about abortion because of the lyric, "The only man of energy/ Yes the revolution's pride/ He trained a hundred women/ Just to kill an unborn child."^Song: Diamonds in the Mine .

.However, extensive research suggests this song is actually about the demise of the hedonism of the 1960s.^I saw that the song could develop in about three or four different ways and there actually exist about three or four versions of "Democracy."

The "man of energy" referred to is Charles Manson and the "unborn child" is Sharon Tate's unborn baby when the Manson "Family" committed the atrocities in 1969.[citation needed]

In "The Land of Plenty", he characterizes the United States (if not the opulent West in general) of benightedness: "May the lights in The Land of Plenty/ Shine on the truth some day."

.War is an enduring theme of Cohen's work that—in his earlier songs and early life—he approached ambivalently.^And like both Simon and Dylan, Cohen will work and rework his songs until he achieves a kind of impossible perfection.

.Challenged in 1974 over his serious demeanor in concerts and the military salutes he ended them with, Cohen remarked: "I sing serious songs, and I'm serious onstage because I couldn't do it any other way...I don't consider myself a civilian.^The first group of songs, including Dance Me to the End of Love , Bird On a Wire and Everybody Knows , were done in grand, and faintly '80s, style, geared by sax and backing vocals, which is one way to corral Leonard Cohen's dark matter into concert mode.

I consider myself a soldier, and that's the way soldiers salute."[45].In "Field Commander Cohen" he imagines himself (perhaps metaphorically) as a soldier/spy socializing with Fidel Castro in Cuba—where he had actually lived at the height of US-Cuba tensions in 1961, allegedly sporting a Che Guevara-style beard and military fatigues.^Song: Field Commander Cohen .

.This song was actually written immediately following Cohen's front-line stint with the Israeli air force, the "fighting in Egypt" documented in an (again perhaps metaphorical) passage of "Night Comes On". In 1973, Cohen, who had traveled to Jerusalem to sign up on the Israeli side in the Yom Kippur War, had instead been assigned to a USO-style entertainer tour of front-line tank emplacements in the Sinai Desert, coming under fire.^There aint anybody that Ive ever read who can come up with anything like the savagery, and I might say the accuracy that we laid on each other.

A poetic mention of then-General Ariel Sharon delivered in the same mode as his Fidel Castro allusions, has given birth to the legend that Cohen and Sharon shared cognac together during Cohen's term in the Sinai.

.Deeply moved by encounters with both Israeli and Arab soldiers, he left the country to write "Lover Lover Lover", which has often been interpreted as a personal renunciation of any part in such conflict, nonetheless ending with the hope his song will serve an unspecified listener as "a shield against the enemy". He would later remark, "'Lover, Lover, Lover' was born over there; The whole world has its eyes riveted on this tragic and complex conflict.^Maybe some sense that this whole enterprise is limited, that there was an end in sight.

Then again, I am faithful to certain ideas, inevitably. I hope that those of which I am in favour will gain."[46] Asked which side he supported in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Cohen responded, "I don't want to speak of wars or sides ... Personal process is one thing, it's blood, it's the identification one feels with their roots and their origins. The militarism I practice as a person and a writer is another thing. ... I don't wish to speak about war."[47]

His recent politics continue a lifelong predilection for the underdog, the "beautiful loser." .Whether recording "The Partisan", a French Resistance song by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d'Astier, or singing his own "The Old Revolution", written from the point of view of a defeated royalist, he has throughout his career through his music expressed his sympathy and support for the oppressed.^So to find a song that I can sing, to engage my interest, to penetrate my boredom with myself and my disinterest in my own opinions, to penetrate those barriers, the song has to speak to me with a certain urgency.

.Although Cohen's fascination with war is often as metaphor for more explicitly cultural and personal issues, as in New Skin for the Old Ceremony, by this measure his most "militant" album.^New Skin For The Old Ceremony (LP, W/Lbl, Promo) .

Cohen blends a good deal of pessimism about political/cultural issues with a great deal of humour and (especially in his later work) gentle acceptance. His wit contends with his stark analyses, as his songs are often verbally playful and even cheerful: In "Tower of Song", the famously raw-voiced Cohen sings ironically that he was "… born with the gift/ Of a golden voice." The generally dark "Is This What You Wanted?" nonetheless contains playful lines "You were the whore and the beast of Babylon/ I was Rin Tin Tin." In concert, he often plays around with his lyrics (for example, "If you want a doctor/ I'll examine every inch of you" from "I'm Your Man" will become "If you want a Jewish doctor …")He may introduce one song by using a phrase from another song or poem—for example, introducing "Leaving Green Sleeves" by paraphrasing his own "Queen Victoria": "This is a song for those who are not nourished by modern love."

.Cohen has also recorded such love songs as Irving Berlin's "Always" or the more obscure soul number "Be for Real" (originally sung by Marlena Shaw), chosen in part for their unlikely juxtaposition to his own work.^I was just working on a line this morning for a song called "I Was Never Any Good at Loving You."

Lawsuits

On October 8, 2005, Cohen alleged that his longtime former manager, Kelley Lynch, misappropriated over US $5 million from Cohen's retirement fund leaving only $150,000.[48] Cohen was sued in turn by other former business associates.[48] These events placed him in the public spotlight, including a cover feature on him with the headline "Devastated!" in Canada's Maclean's magazine. In March 2006, Cohen won the civil suit and was awarded US $9 million by a Los Angeles County superior court. Lynch, however, ignored the suit and did not respond to a subpoena issued for her financial records.[49] As a result it has been widely reported that Cohen may never be able to collect the awarded amount.[50] In 2007, U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock dismissed a claim by Cohen for more than US $4.5 million against Colorado investment firm Agile Group, and in 2008 he dismissed a defamation suit that Agile Group filed against Cohen.[51] Cohen has been under new management since April 2005.

Family life

In the 1960s, during his stay at Hydra, Cohen befriended the Scandinavian novelists Axel Jensen and Göran Tunström. He lived there with Axel's wife Marianne Jensen (now: Ihlen Stang) and their son Axel after they broke up. The song "So Long, Marianne" is about her.

According to biographer and filmmaker Harry Rasky, Cohen has been married once, to Los Angeles artist Suzanne Elrod. Although the two did have an important relationship in the 1970s, Cohen himself has said that "cowardice" and "fear" have prevented him from ever actually marrying[52][53]. .He had two children with Elrod: a son, Adam, was born in 1972 and a daughter, Lorca, named after poet Federico García Lorca, was born in 1974. Adam Cohen began his own career as a singer-songwriter in the mid-1990s and currently fronts a band called Low Millions.^When I began songwriting, asked about my influences, the four people I always mentioned were Leonard Cohen, John Prine, John Irving and Guy Clark.

.Elrod took the cover photograph on Cohen's Live Songs album and is pictured on the cover of the Death of a Ladies' Man album.^I have to say I do like Cohen singing Hallelujah, even though the song has been done to death as you say.

.Cohen and Elrod had split by 1979. Contrary to popular belief, "Suzanne", one of his best-known songs, refers to Suzanne Verdal, the former wife of his friend, the Québécois sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, rather than Elrod.^Then I met Suzanne, who was the wife of Armand Villancour, a friend of mine.

.The first clip still exists, while the second is only available as a bootleg CD [63].

His song The Partisan was in 1971 the theme from the RAI- TV (Italy) broadcast Habitat: l'uomo e l'ambiente (Habitat: Man and the Environment).

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man was released in the United States on June 21, 2006. It prominently features a 2005 tribute concert to Cohen, "Came So Far For Beauty", held at the Sydney Opera House; the concert was produced by Hal Willner.

^After returning to America, he began his career as a singer, recording 11 studio albums: In 1992, a tribute with 18 songs was released, featuring REM, John Cale, Nick Cave, Ian McCulloch, The Pixies, House of Love and Lloyd Cole among others.

^After returning to America, he began his career as a singer, recording 11 studio albums: In 1992, a tribute with 18 songs was released, featuring REM, John Cale, Nick Cave, Ian McCulloch, The Pixies, House of Love and Lloyd Cole among others.

^ See Larry Rohter. On the Road, for Reasons Practical and Spiritual. The New York Times, February 25, 2009.For an extended discussion of the Jewish mystical and Buddhist motifs in Cohen's songs and poems, see Elliot R. Wolfson, New Jerusalem Glowing: Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen in a Kabbalistic Key, Kabbalah: A Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 15 (2006): 103-152.

Sourced

I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself,
for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man
setting the universe in order.^I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order.

^That the old man engaging in the young man’s tour game is as much about practicality as anything else echoes something he said 24 years ago: “I don’t think there is any other consideration but practical.

^"Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'."-first words of his speech accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in Canada (1992) "I don't consider myself a pessimist at all.

.I think it has something to do with the energy of
love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of
a kind of balance in the chaos of existence.^Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence.

.I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for
himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion
of a man setting the universe in order.^I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order.

^That the old man engaging in the young man’s tour game is as much about practicality as anything else echoes something he said 24 years ago: “I don’t think there is any other consideration but practical.

.Far from flying with the
angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the
state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is
dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world.^Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape.

It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass.^And I feel completely soaked to the skin."-from interview with The Daily Telegraph (1993) "It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass.

^Forgive me for not falling in love with your face or your conversation."-from The Energy of Slaves (1972) "Well, maybe there's a God above/ But all I've ever learned from love/ Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya"-from "Hallelujah" (1984) .

Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win
'Vocalist of the Year'.

First words of his speech accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist
in Canada (1992)

I am so often accused of gloominess and melancholy.^By 1993 he had learned to laugh at his voice and his country, accepting a Juno Award: “Only in a country like Canada could I get the best male vocalist of the year.” In 2003 he was made a Companion to the Order of Canada by now Governor-General Clarkson.

^"Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'."-first words of his speech accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in Canada (1992) "I don't consider myself a pessimist at all.

^"Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'."-first words of his speech accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in Canada (1992) "I don't consider myself a pessimist at all.

.And I feel completely soaked to the
skin. ...^And I feel completely soaked to the skin."-from interview with The Daily Telegraph (1993) "It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass.

.... .I think that it was Ben Jonson who said, I have studied all the
theologies and all the philosophies, but cheerfulness keeps
breaking through.^I think that it was Ben Jonson who said, I have studied all the theologies and all the philosophies, but cheerfulness keeps breaking through.

Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm a great
musicologist, but I'm a lot better than what I was described as for
a long, long time; you know, people said I only knew three chords
when I knew five.^You know, people said I only knew three chords when I knew five."

I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able
to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word
that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that
dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be
paid for my work — just to be able to satisfy those standards that
I set for myself has been an enormous privilege.^Interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994) I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work — just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has been an enormous privilege.

People used to say my music was too difficult or too
obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure.^Interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994) People used to say my music was too difficult or too obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure.

^Interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994) I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work — just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has been an enormous privilege.

.Most people can't
wait to get home to their house or apartment and shut that door and
turn on the TV. To me, that's dropping out.^Most people can't wait to get home to their house or apartment and shut that door and turn on the TV. To me, that's dropping out.

^'And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers There are heroes in the seaweed There are children in the morning They are leaning out for love And they will lean that way forever' .

.The most difficult thing is
Goddam to understand that they will float, if they relax, if they
hold their breath and relax, they will actually float.^The most difficult thing is Goddam to understand that they will float, if they relax, if they hold their breath and relax, they will actually float.

But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't
untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the
river.
You can hear the boats go by,
You can spend the night beside her,
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there,
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China.^When it all comes down to dust I will help you if I must, I will kill you if I can.

.And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover.^And just when you mean to tell her That you have no love to give her Then she gets you on her wavelength And she lets the river answer That you've always been her lover.

And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers.
There are heroes in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love,
And they will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.^And you want to travel with her, And you want to travel blind, And you know that she will trust you, For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone

"Suzanne"

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter.^But I would not at all want to see this at Coachella.

^Some standouts include the gorgeous “Boogie Street,” the hard-edged “Everybody Knows,” “Who By Fire,” as transformed by Javier Mas, “I’m Your Man” as transformed by Leonard, and “Whither Thou Goest” as transformed by the Webb sisters.

Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another.^"The Stranger Song" (1966) Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another.

Please understand, I never had a secret chart
to get me to the heart of this
or any other matter.
When he talks like this
you don't know what he's after.^You never liked to get The letters that I sent.

And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened
your night:
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all
right.

"Sisters of Mercy"

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
Yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you,But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't
untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

^Bird On A Wire was the first Cohen song I ever heard, lying under the coffee table and listening to my mother’s scratchy old Songs From A Room LP. “Like a baby still-born, like a beast with his horn, I have torn everyone who reached out for me.” At 11 or whatever i was, I had never heard anything like that.

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it
pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

^There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah "Hallelujah" I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.

.There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

"Hallelujah"

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.^There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah "Hallelujah" I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.

^There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.

.And it may
surprise you, but I respect both sides of this struggle.
It seems to be that in Europe there needs to be a left foot and a
right foot to move forward.^And it may surprise you, but I respect both sides of this struggle.

I wish that both feet move forward and
the body moves towards its proper destiny. .This is an intense
country; the people are heroic, the spirit is independent.^This is an intense country; the people are heroic, the spirit is independent.

... .I would like to say to you, to the leaders of the
left, and the leaders of the right, I sing...^I’ve given up trying to convey a sense of what the evening was like, and saying you had to be there is pure provocation to the hard-done-by.

.And I say the prayer,
that we said in our synagogue, I say it for the leader of your
union and the leader of your party.^And I say the prayer, that we said in our synagogue, I say it for the leader of your union and the leader of your party.

.May the Lord put a spirit, a
wisdom and understanding into the hearts of your leaders and into
the hearts of all their counsellors.^May the Lord put a spirit, a wisdom and understanding into the hearts of your leaders and into the hearts of all their counsellors.

.I just move from
hotel to hotel, and from bar to bar, and by the grace of the One
above occasionally a song comes, and I remember sitting at this
particularly obnoxious Polynesian restaurant where they served a
kind of coconut drink that was particularly lethal and sinister
which contained no alcohol but a certain chemical that demoralized
you entirely.^I just move from hotel to hotel, and from bar to bar, and by the grace of the One above occasionally a song comes, and I remember sitting at this particularly obnoxious Polynesian restaurant where they served a kind of coconut drink that was particularly lethal and sinister which contained no alcohol but a certain chemical that demoralized you entirely.

.And I remember writing on one of their very badly
designed napkins, "I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel..."^Of course, it’s far from opulent and you’re probably not guaranteed the sort of time Leonard Cohen immortalized in his song, “Chelsea Hotel No 2″.

.There is
a judgment that weighs everything we do. And before this
great force, which is greater than any government I stand in awe
and I kneel in respect and it is to this great judgment that I
dedicate this next song, "Hallelujah".

.There is a moment when we have to transcend the side
we're on and understand that we are creatures of a higher
order. That doesn't mean that I don't wish you courage in
your struggle.^That doesn't mean that I don't wish you courage in your struggle.

That is important to remember. On both sides of the struggle,
some struggling for freedom, some struggling for safety and solemn
testimony of that unbroken faith which binds generations one to
another I sing this song, "If It Be Your Will"

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them.^They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom For trying to change the system from within I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

"First We Take Manhattan"

Ah, you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried
that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the
discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.^It was as if Leonard Cohen had come to see us.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
without your clothes
And everybody knows

"Everybody Knows"

If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to.^How did you get there?

^Everybody Knows " (co-written with Sharon Robinson ) - YouTube video Everybody knows that you love me baby Everybody knows that you really do Everybody knows that you've been faithful Ah give or take a night or two Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet without your clothes And everybody knows "Everybody Knows" If you want a lover I'll do anything you ask me to.

^"First We Take Manhattan" (1986) Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes Everybody knows.

^If you want a lover I’ll do anything you ask me to And if you want another kind of love I’ll wear a mask for you If you want a partner Take my hand Or if you want to strike me down in anger Here I stand I’m your man .

^If you want a lover I’ll do anything you ask me to And if you want another kind of love I’ll wear a mask for you If you want a partner Take my hand Or if you want to strike me down in anger Here I stand I’m your man .

.And all the bridges are burning that
We might have crossed and I feel so close to everything that we've
lost.^There's something to be said for this unadorned approach -- for example, you might just feel comfortable playing this all year round.

If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle to come.

"Waiting for the Miracle" (co-written with Sharon
Robinson)

We're drinking and we're dancing
but there's nothing really happening.^If you're squeezed for information, that's when you've got to play it dumb: You just say you're out there waiting for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

I smile when I'm angry, I cheat and I lie.
I do what I have to do to get by..But I know what is wrong and I know what is right,
and I'd die for the truth in my secret life.^It justifies my personal ethics about right and wrong, or love, or justice, or goodness etc.

And here you are hurried,
And here you are gone;
And here is the love,
That it's all built upon.^Before the phone starts ringing, before your civilian life returns to you with all its bewildering complexities.

^If you want a lover I’ll do anything you ask me to And if you want another kind of love I’ll wear a mask for you If you want a partner Take my hand Or if you want to strike me down in anger Here I stand I’m your man .

The light came through the window,
Straight from the sun above,
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of Love.

.In streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see,
Out of which the Nameless makes
A Name for one like me.^The Cuckold's Song If this looks like a poem I might as well warn you at the beginning that it's not meant to be one.

All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.

"Love Itself"

I'll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door -
Then Love Itself
Love Itself was gone.^After moving mountains to try to fix the warm weather woes, Olympic organizers say to bring on the games - they'll have the snow.

I swept the marble chambers,
But you sent me down below.^If you want a lover I’ll do anything you ask me to And if you want another kind of love I’ll wear a mask for you If you want a partner Take my hand Or if you want to strike me down in anger Here I stand I’m your man .

^You love it because it pulls gentle enough to call you master, strong enough to call you fool; because it lives like a desperate trained falcon in the high sweet air, and you can always haul it down to tame it in your drawer.

^The Flowers that I Left in the Ground The flowers that I left in the ground, that I did not gather for you, today I bring them all back, to let them grow forever, not in poems or marble, but where they fell and rotted.

Other
Lyrics

These need to be better sorted and
organized

Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to
reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.
It is easy to display a wound, the proud scars of combat. It is
hard to show a pimple.
.

"The Favorite Game"

I fought against the bottle
but I had to do it drunk

"That Don't Make It Junk", Ten New Songs (2001)

So the great affair is over/ but whoever would have guessed/ it
would leave us all so vacant/ and so deeply unimpressed/ It's like
our visit to the moon/ or to that other star/ I guess you go for
nothing/ if you really want to go that far

"Death of a Ladies' Man" (1977)

And sometimes when the night is slow/ The wretched and the
meek/ We gather up our hearts and go/ A Thousand Kisses Deep.^But I would not at all want to see this at Coachella.

Transparent, weightless, luminous/ Uncovering the two of us/ On
that fundamental ground/ Where love's unwilled, unleashed, unbound/
And half the perfect world is found."^I loved it so much, I wrote a poem….and although in total rapture the entire evening, I only cried once, during the recitation of “A Thousand Kisses Deep”, so that’s the meter I followed for this.

^I had two thoughts: to leave my love and join their wandering, join their holiness; or take my love to the city they had fled: That impoverished world of boil-afflicted flesh and rotting fields could not tempt us from each other.

And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed
by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never
mind, we are ugly but we have the music."^You never knew who’d be there.

Unsourced

Quotes about
Cohen

What if I had to
Live here without you
Oh, I don't really want to know
Where you goin', Lenny Cohen?

^I know all about passion and honour but unfortunately this had really nothing to do with either: oh there was passion I'm only too sure and even a little honour but the important thing was to cuckold Leonard Cohen.

[…] He's remarkable. .I mean, the
orchestration is fantastic and the words, the lyrics and
everything, he's a remarkable man, and has this incredibly sort of
laid back gravelly voice, it's terrific stuff I think.^I mean, the orchestration is fantastic and the words, the lyrics and everything, he's a remarkable man."

Difficult as
much to him as it was to us. Not necessarily political but
intimate. And I learned to appreciate the power of intimacy. There
are moments when nothing can get between you and the other person.
.And when this person is Leonard Cohen himself you feel blessed.^Nick Cave "I tell you who I also think is wonderful is a chap called Leonard Cohen.

In 2001, Cohen was awarded a SNEP Award for more than 100,000 copies sold of Ten New Songs in France. Photo of the award.

In 2003, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour.

In 2004, Beautiful Losers was chosen for inclusion in Canada Reads 2005. It was selected and originally to be championed by singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright; however, tour commitments meant that Wainwright had to be replaced by singer Molly Johnson.

In 2006, Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 2007, Cohen received a Grammy for Album of the Year as a featured artist on Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters. [1]